Mail-carrier.



O. LOBSIGER.

MAIL CARRIER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 19, 1913.

1,083,407. Patented Jan; 6, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

G. LOBSIGBR.

MAIL CARRIER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 19, 191s.

A be M mm m IE 0 now 31 mw m d C es COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO., WASHINGTON. D. c.

- 0. LOB$IGBR.

MAIL CARRIER. APPLIOATIOKIILED JUNE 19,1913.

Patented Jan. 6, 1914-.

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lwuwtoz Cums-r Lo ssgzuz flame/1 CHRIST LOBSIG-ER, OF MONROE, INDIANA.

MAIL-CARRIER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 6, 1914.

Application filed June 19, 1913. Serial No. 774,627.

' Monroe, in the county of Adams and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Carriers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to new anduseful improvements in mail carriers and more particularly to rural mail carriers.

The object of the invention is to provide a carrier which is adapted to convey the mail in rural districts from the roadside to the house, that is, where the house sets back some distance from the road, thus eliminating the necessity of the carrier leaving his wagon and going back to the house.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mail carrier of the above character view' Fi 3 is a side elevation' Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the end of the line near the house, illustrating the side opposite that shown in Fig. 8; Fig. 5 is an edge elevation illustrating the end of the line which is located along the route; Fig. 6 is a side elevation taken at right angles to the showing in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the mail box; Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view of the same; Fig. 9 is a detail pla-n view of the post arranged at the inner end of the line.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, l and 2 indicate the supporting posts, the post 1 being located near the road or rural route and the post 2 being mounted near the house.

Mounted upon the post 1 is an angular bracket 3 upon which is mounted the re taining hook member 4, said hook member being pivotally mounted upon the outer end of the bracket. Mounted upon the bolt 5 and disposed upon the opposite side of the post is an arm 6, to the upper end of which is secured an outwardly projecting bolt 7. One end of the wire or cable 8 is wound upon the bolt 7 and is adapted to extend to the other supporting post 2 and secured thereto in any suit-able manner.

Secured to one side of the post 1 by means of the screw bolts 9 is a spring late 10 which is adapted to normally engage an outwardly projecting lug 11 formed upon the arm 6 to yieldably hold the arm at an angle with respect to the post, .as clearly illustrated in Fig. 1.

An outwardly projecting bolt 12 is carried by the arm 6 and is adapted to be engaged by the hook member 4 to retain the arm 6 in an operative position, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3, said hook member being released from the bolt 12by pressing inwardly, toward the post, upon the lower end of the hook member 4.v It will be readily apparent that after'the arm 6 has been released from the hook member 4, the spring 10 will press against the lug 11 to retard the swinging movement of the arm.

Pivotally mounted upon the upper end of the post 2 is a bell crank 13, upon one end of which is adjustably mounted a weight 14, said weight being held in various adjusted positions upon the arm by means of the set screw 15. Secured to the other end of the arm and projecting outwardly at right angles thereto is a bolt 16, to which the cable 8 is removably secured by means of a clamp 17.

Secured to the post 2 and arranged beneat-h the pivot 18 is an angular bracket 19 V in the horizontal portion of which ismounted an adjusting screw 20, the upper end of which is adapted to be engaged by the lower portion of the arm 18 to limit the down ward swinging movement of the same.

Movably mounted upon the wire or cable 8 is the mail box 21, said mail box being supported upon the wire by means of the wheels 22, which are journaled in the upper post 2, the hook will engage thebolt 1G to retain the mail box until itis desired to release the same and when the mail box is at the outer end of the line or at the end of the route, the hook 24 will engage the rod to hold the mail box at its end of the line until the same is released.

Coiled upon the rod 7 is a spring 26, one end of which projects outwardly at an angle with respect to ;the rod and is adapted to movedownwardly when the arm 6 is returned to its normalposition, so that the outer. en d of the spring will. bear downwandly upon the outwardly projecting lug QZ Lrmed uponthe inner end of the hook member 24. to release-thesame from the rod 7. A second coilsprin 728 is mounted upon the bolt- 16 and has one end thereof projecting outwardly toward the mail box and adapted to move downwardly when the crank arm 13 is raised to its normal position so that the outer end of the spring will bear upon the upper side of the lug 29 which is formed upon the inner end of the hook member to, release said hook member, thus releasing themail box and permitting thesame to pass to the other end of the line.

will be noted from the illustration in Fig. that when the crank arm 13 is in its normal position, as illustrated therein, the end of the wire which is secured to the upper end of the. crank arm is in a plane higher than that end of the cable which is secured ,t-o the arm 6, so that the mail box w ll readily run from one end of the line to the other. It will, also be apparent, as clearlyshown indotted linesin Fig. 3, that when the arm {5 is in its normal position, the end or the cable which is secured thereto is iiha plane higher than, the end which sec1ireCl, tO the bell crank 13,.thus permitting the mail box to run upon a down grade from the post 1. to the post 2.

The mail box 21 is provided with a door opening3Q which is suitably closedby means of a movable door 31, said door being held in its closed position by means of. the crank arm 32, end ofwhich engages the car 33 formed upon the door to securely hold the same, in its closed position. Mounted upon the other end the crank 3.111132 is a flag 84;, which is I held in its upright position when theother end of the arm is in engagementwith the ear 33, said arm being piv otally, mounted, as shown at 35, upon one end of the mail box. i

Arranged beneath the body of the mail box and suspended therefrom is a basket or receptacle 36 which, preferably constructed ofwiretand suspended from the body of the mail box by means of the U-shaped members 31, the ends of which are secured to tlie uppererlges otthe basket upon opposite sides thereof. This basket is prefer ably used for carrying packages, newspapers and other similar articles which cannot be readily placed within the mail box. It will be understood that this basket may be constructed in any suitable manner and suspended by any other suitable means in preference to that illustrated in the drawings.

The operation of my improved mail delivering apparatus is as follows :If the mail box is at the outer end of the line which is arranged along the rural route, the hook 241. will be engaged with the rod 7, while the arm (1 and hook member 4 will be arranged in their operative positions, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, the hook member 4- holding the arm 6 in its operative position. It will also be apparent that the bell crank 13 will be raised to the position illustrated in Fig. 3 so that the weight 1 1 is suspended upon the outer end of the bell crank. Thus as the hook member a is released from the boltil2, the weight 14 bearing upon the outer end of the bell crank 13 willreturn the same to its normal position, as illustrated inthe dotted lines, raising the arm 6 so that the end of the cable secured to the arm is higher than that secured to the crank 13, thus permitting the mail box to run down grade tothe post 2. As the arm 6 returns to its normal position the springniember 26 engages the lug 27 upon the hook member 24 to release said hook from the rod 7, thus releasing the mail box. As the mail box reaches the opposite end of the line, the hook 25 will engage with the bolt 16, and retain the box at this end of the line until the carrier can return .upon another trip. The carrier pulling downwardly upon the arm 6 will raise the weight 1 1 and returnthe bell crank 13 to the raised positionillustrated in full lines in 11 ig. 3. As the crank arm 13 is returned to its raised position, the spring will engage the lug 25) upon the book 25 to release the same from thebolt 16, thus permitting the mail box to return tothe outer end of the line. From this it will e apparent that I have provided a simple and durable mail delivering apparatus which is arranged between the route along which the carrier passes and the house so as to eliminate the necessity of the carrier passing to and from each house upon the route. It will also be apparent that the device is extremely simple in construction and can be manufactured at a comparatively low cost.

.While, IV have shown and described the preferred form of my invention, it will be obvious that various changes in the details of construction and in the proportions may be resorted to for successfully carrying my invention into practice without sacrificing any of the novel features or departing from the. scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is 1. A device of the class described including two upright supporting posts, an arm pivotally mounted upon one of said posts and projecting beyond the upper end thereof, a crank arm pivotally mounted upon the upper end of the other of said posts, a cable connecting the first arm with one end of the crank arm, a mail box movably mounted upon the cable, means carried by the mail box for engagement with said arms to retain the mail box at either end of the cable, and means actuated by the pivotal move- 1lgnent of said arms for releasing the mail 2. A device of the class described including two upright posts, pivoted arms secured to the upper ends of said posts, a cable connecting said arms, a mail box movably mounted upon said cable, pivoted hook members carried by the mail box and adapted for engagement with the arms to retain the mail box at either end of the cable and means actuated by the pivotal movement of the arms for engagement with the hooks to release the same.

3. A device of the character described including upright supporting posts, an arm pivo-tally mounted upon one of said posts and having its upper end normally disposed above the upper end of the post, a pivoted hook member carried by the post and adapted for engagement wit-h the arm after the same has been swung to its operative position, pressure upon the lower end of said hook member releasing the arm, and means for returning the same to its normal position.

4. A device of the class described including upright supporting post-s, an arm pivotally mounted upon one of said posts, a bell crank pivotally mounted upon the other of said posts, a bracket provided upon the second mentioned post and having an adjustable set screw adapted for engagement by the crank arm to limit the swinging movement of the crank arm, a weight adjustably mounted upon one arm of the crank to hold the crank into engagement with the adjusting screw, a cable connecting said arms and a mail box movably mounted upon said cable.

5. A device of the class described including upright supporting posts, arms pivotally mounted upon said posts, a cable connecting said arms, said arms being so arranged that the upper end of one will be disposed above the upper end of the post while the other is disposed at an angle with respect to the post, a mail box movably mounted upon said cable, means carried by the mail box adapted for engagement with the arms to retain the same at one end of the cable and means operated by the pivotal movement of the arms for releasing the mail box.

6. A device of the class described including two upright supporting posts, arms pivotally mounted thereon, outwardly projecting bolts carried by one end of said arms, a cable having its ends secured to said bolts to connect the arms, a mail box movably mounted upon the cable, pivoted hook members carried by the mail box and arranged in opposed relation for engagement with the bolts of the arms, spring engaging members carried by said bolts, lugs formed upon the inner ends of the pivoted hook members and adapted for engagement by the spring members upon the pivotal movement of the arms for releasing the hooks from the bolts.

7. A device of the class described including upright supporting posts, pivoted arms carried by said posts, a cable adapted to connect said arms, said arms being arranged whereby the upper end of one is disposed above the upper end of the post while the other end is disposed at an angle thereto, so that the cable will be arranged upon an incline, a mail box movably mounted upon the cable, said arms being adapted to be arranged in opposed positions so that the mail box will pass from one arm to the other, pivoted hook members carried by the mail box and adapted for engagement with the arms to retain the mail box at either end of the cable, and means actuated by the pivotal movement of the arms for releasing the hook members.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aifix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHRIST LOBSIGER, Witnesses:

JONAS STEHM,

JOHN TANNER.

Gople: of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

